Programma UE di riferimento
EPODE programme is a coordinated, capacity-building approach that aims to reduce childhood obesity through a social process in which local environment, childhood settings and family norms are directed and encouraged to facilitate the adoption of a healthy lifestyle in children.

EUROBIS’s project is on EIN as 16° member Country of the EPODE programme.

Durata
Start date: 8th February 2014
End date: 31th December 2017

Coordinatore

Prof. Pierpaolo De Feo is the scientific coordinator of the EUROBIS’s project; He is a Scientific Advisor of WHO Europe and President of the Italian Wellness Alliance, Member of the World NCD Alliance. Since 2007 he is Director of the Healthy Lifestyle Institute CURIAMO of the University of Perugia. Since 2013, he is coordinator of the teaching courses in Medicine of the Board of the PhD in “Translational Medicine and Surgery” University of Perugia. He is internationally recognized for his research activity on motivation to lifestyle change and the innovative use of exercise as therapeutic tool for obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. He has published several influential papers about the beneficial effects of exercise on psychological and physical health status. So far he has 140 international peer-reviewed scientific articles, with an h-index of 41 (over 5200 citations), and a total impact factor of 580. He has served as editor of the Journal Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Disease, has roles in several editorial boards and acts frequently as an invited reviewer for more than 10 scientific journals and several funding agencies.

EUROBIS is a community based programme with a multidisciplinary approach that aims to improve three key aspects of healthy lifestyles: nutrition, exercise and psychological aspects with the strategy of a family-based approach. According to the main objectives the action plan covers different sectors (health, sport, school, environment) crossing each in order to include a series of actions: school active transport, institution of exercise classes, promotion of baby and children gym facilities, monthly meetings with parents on healthy nutrition and psychological determinants of obesity, school cooking classes, visits to farms and vegetable garden with tasting on site, mapping of regional healthy trails and promotion of open air activities for families, training programme for health professionals, measurements of the impact of the interventions and publication of the results in the international scientific journals, production of media books, web site and printed materials will contribute to the dissemination of the program results.

EUROBIS main goal is to reduce the raising obesity rates of Umbria’s children. Thus, the primary outcome is to change the pendency of slope of the actual trend to increased yearly rates of childhood overweight and obesity in Umbria by the reduction of at least 5% in BMI and waist circumference percentiles in Umbria children. Secondary outcome will be to improve the adoption of healthy lifestyles by children and their parents.